Wednesday, May 14, 2014

College graduation: A right of passage, academic closure

It's a right of passage I wish
everyone in the world could experience!

There's nothing like renting or
buying that symbolic black gown, and wearing it down the aisle and
across the stage to accept a diploma. Some wear formal wear under it.
Others wear flip flops and shorts. One guy during the Bowling Green
State University commencement walked across the stage bare foot!

There's also nothing like securing
that tassel to the right side of your head before the ceremony, and then flipping it to the other side near the end of it. Such a small thing really, but
that little gesture for so many of the graduates means the end of
adolescence, and the beginning of adulthood.

There's no doubt a college
graduation ceremony is a well-earned, shared experience of tears and
cheers. It's also bittersweet because graduates are leaving a special place they loved for years, and sometimes hated. They are bidding farewell
to friends they've made, and will inevitably lose.

I was fortunate enough to have graduated
from college twice. I received my Bachelor of Science degree in
photojournalism from Kent State in 1991, and my Master's of Arts in
journalism education, also from Kent, in 2012. Though quite a few
people I know chose to not walk, I wouldn't have missed those moments
of academic closure for the world!

As I recently shot yet another
graduation ceremony at BGSU for the Toledo Blade, I couldn't help but
get teary-eyed and emotional myself as I witnessed the tears and grins on
the faces of graduates and their families and friends. It was my
pleasure to document that special moment in their lives.

So, it's in this spirit that I
congratulation all of the college graduates who just earned their degrees this weekend. I am proud
of you all!

To view the photo gallery from the BGSU graduation morning ceremony May 10 (and to see the barefoot dude), click here.

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About the instructor

A photojournalist with the Toledo Blade; an adjunct photojournalism/multimedia instructor at Kent State, Wayne State and Owens Community College; a retired military journalist; contributing writer to the NPPA News Photographer magazine; and a mom of teen girls.